When Colorado Springs was founded in 1871 there were already two cemeteries serving El Paso County but both were quickly found to be inadequate in serving the needs of the rapidly growing city. In 1874, the founder of Colorado Springs, href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6111">General William Jackson Palmer, founded a new cemetery two miles from town. The original names were the Mount Washington or Mountain Home Cemetery. In 1877, the name was changed to Evergreen Cemetery. In 1875 the original 10 acres or so was deeded to the city of Colorado Springs and it has been a city owned and operated cemetery since then. In 1993 the cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The original 10 acres has grown to over 220 acres with 90,000 plus burials in 2014 and the cemetery still performs about 700 burials per year.

Evergreen Cemetery is the final resting place of many of the people that built the city of Colorado Springs along with founders of many neighboring cities. It is also the final resting place of many of the people that made millions from the last Colorado gold rush, world renowned artists, writers and composers, philanthropists, captains of industry and business, Union and Confederate soldiers, sports figures, politicians, actors, and even an astronaut.

On Find a Grave, Evergreen Cemetery has been very well documented and recorded. As of 2012, the many dedicated photographic volunteers have photographed and posted nearly 99 percent of the available headstones.